The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was created on June 23, 1894 by the Paris Congress to act as the supreme authority of the Olympic games.

Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the IOC is governed by the Olympic Charter, whose philosophy is that "sport serves the harmonious development of man."

An IOC president is elected by secret ballot and serves for a term of eight years, at which time he or she can be re-elected for another four-year term. In Olympic history, there have been seven presidents:

Le Baron Pierre de Coubertin (France) -- 1896-1925

Demetrious Vikelas (Greece) 1896-1984

Le Comte Henri de Baillet-Latour (Belgium) 1925-1942

J. Sigfrid Edstrom (Sweden) 1946-1952

Avery Brundage (U.S.A.) 1952-1972

Lord Killanin (Ireland) 1972-1980

Juan Antonio Samaranch (Spain) 1980-2001

Jacques Rogge (Belgium) 2001-Today

Avery Brundage in advance of the 1972 Munich Olympic games.

Outging IOC President Lord Killanin congratulates his successor, Juan Antonio Samaranch.
Juan Antonio Samaranch at the Lillehammer Olympic games with the Norwegian royal family behind him.

The great knowledge of many of our members could perhaps be shown in the quiz result, as we looked up who would be mentioned as the winner in this newsletter - we discovered that there are no more than five people placed on the top position!

The TRF Team hereby crowns the following members as "Masters of the TRF Christmas Quiz 2005"...